RallyNorth.net

Wed, May 28, 2008 05:00 PM @ Lowell

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Playoff Game East Division 1 - Preliminary Round
Gloucester	1	0	0	0	1
Lowell	1	4	2	1	8

Fishermen offense completely stiffled in loss to Red Raiders

Thursday, May, 29 By Richard Slate
Staff writer

A solid defensive scheme and talented goalie are always vital in lacrosse, never more so than in the state tournament.

That message was reinforced yesterday in the Gloucester boys' Division 1 East preliminary round game at Lowell.

The Red Raiders (14-6), the No. 11 seed used a tight zone defense and senior All-American Tim Finnegan in net (11 saves) to defeat Gloucester (9-10), the No. 22 seed, 8-1.

Lowell will travel to No. 6 Lexington on Saturday for a first round contest.  

Lowell head coach Burke Walker said his team found its identity during a spring break trip to Maryland.

"It was midseason over spring break, we lost both games down there and discovered that we're a zone team. We've been playing it ever since and it's been very effective for us."

Gloucester head coach Drew Dominick was frustrated that his team couldn't find more holes in the zone but he had to admit the Fishermen fell to a formidable opponent.

"We'd seen zones before but not with a great goaltender like that (Finnegan plans to continue his career at Providence College). We just threw the ball away, it look like first day stuff. We dropped it four or five times right on the crease, right there ready to score. If we could have capitalized on a few of those, it might have been different."

Senior attackman Matt Goyette (3 goals) and senior attackman Mike Abcunas (1 goal, 2 assists) led the way for the Red Raiders' efficient offense.

Senior midfielder and leading scorer Greg Demetriou had the first goal of the game for Lowell in the first quarter. His shot was partially blocked by Fishermen junior goalie Shane Stephenson (7 saves) but it trickled over the line.

Gloucester junior defender Dylan Morrissey provided the only goal for his team when his attempted pass was dropped by Finnegan into the net. It was a fluke goal, no doubt about it and Finnegan was locked in after that costly mistake.

The first quarter ended with the teams tied at 1-1 but the Red Raiders preceded to close out the game with seven unanswered strikes.

The Fishermen made a substitution error on the face-off to start the second quarter and Lowell took advantage by scoring a fast-break goal from Abcunas to Goyette.

Goyette added another tally after coming around the net and later rang a shot off the crossbar. Abcunas made it 4-1 Red Raiders with a laser shot. Stephenson kept his team in the game, making a diving save but a miscommunication led to another Lowell goal.

Senior defender Tim Demetriou came up with a ground ball in his own end then moved into the Gloucester defensive box. Nobody picked him up in time and Demetriou found the back of the net.

At halftime, Lowell led 5-1 but it felt like even more. Gloucester was making too many unforced errors while Lowell was making the most of its possessions. The Fishermen dominated ground balls in the half (20-7) but couldn't make anything happen once they got the ball to the attackmen.   

Goyette completed his hat trick in the third quarter after another isolation play. The Fishermen drew a penalty on the Red Raiders but couldn't convert the man-up opportunity. Then Lowell junior Dylan Ashworth scored the most important goal of the game with 22 seconds left in the third to put his team up 7-1. It was a deflating moment for Gloucester as they were still hanging around but their offense just wasn't clicking.

Fishermen senior attackman Jeremy Fanning hit the post in the fourth quarter, while Finnegan made a couple impressive saves. Finnegan was moved to attack late in the game and put home the final score, making it 8-1 Lowell.

Walker was obviously pleased with his team's performance, particularly the defense.

"The thing about a zone is that most teams use it if they don't have athletes and they're trying to mask that. We have good defensemen, they just happen to be slow. They have good sticks so the zone is perfect for us."

Dominick was left wondering why his team came out so flat in its biggest game of the season.

"We didn't test Finnegan. The game was lost because of us turning the ball over, not because we weren't athletic. It came down to stick skills and unfortunately we lacked them today. I thought Shane played awesome. It was a tough loss to swallow."